Long Snows Moon by Stacey Darlington Page A

You can’t expect me to keep her on a
leash.”
    “Manners and discipline are what I expect.
Trevor is a model son, meticulously groomed, polite, and even
enjoys doing his own laundry.”
    “Devon is intelligent, inquisitive, and
extremely sensitive. She is the kind of person who has to
experience things herself, not take someone’s word as rote.
Besides, this isn’t a competition, Claire.”
    “You know I love Devon, Analise.”
    “If you love her be more patient with her. If
you love me, be more patient, period.” Analise put her hand on
Claire’s.
    “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’m used to being
in charge and running things, you know it’s hard for me to turn
off. And it’s been much too long since we’ve been together, if you
know what I mean.”
    “I know what you mean, Claire, and of course
we’re both frustrated, but if you don’t stop being a bitch I’m not
going to want to share a bed with you, if you know what I
mean.”
    “Sexual blackmail?” Claire whispered with a
devilish smile. “You wouldn’t dare.”
    “Try me,” Analise raised a brow.
    “Okay, I’ll put away my guns,” Claire
conceded. “But I still don’t think it is right to let Devon drink,
period.”
    “That’s duly noted and I agree.”
    “And she has been mouthy with me.”
    “Growing pains, Claire, that’s all. Please,
can we drop it now? Let’s get her something else to eat.”
    “She had a plate of spaghetti that she
refused,” Claire said.
    “You ordered it with meatballs. She doesn’t
eat meat, why can’t you respect that?”
    “She needs proper nutrition.” Claire
began.
    “She’s my daughter,” Analise said looking
away. “You hate kids, remember?”
    “I thought we were doing this together,”
Claire snapped, trying her best to suppress her anger.
    “If you want to do it together let’s do it. I
am ready. I have been ready. It has been a long time since we
devised our plan to be together. It has been over ten years and we
still live in separate houses, I am married to a work-a-holic who
is never home, and who has the sex drive of a rock, thank god. You
live with man with the ambition of a pair of socks who only through
his good looks and his family tree was able to get elected to
office.”
    “And my hard work,” Claire reminded her.
    Analise nodded. “Of course. The reality is
that he gets to sleep with you every night and wake up with you in
the morning. I don’t even want to know what goes on in
between.”
    Claire began to say something but Analise
shushed her.
    “Please, don’t say a word. I can tell when
you’re lying with my eyes closed. I don’t want to know. Don’t make
a fool of me.”
    “I love you and only you,” Claire murmured.
She leaned forward and whispered. “The plan wasn’t supposed to go
on this long and you know that. You are the one who wanted to have
kids. We would have been out of the marriages by now and as wealthy
as I knew we’d be.”
    “I’ve put away plenty of money,” Analise
reasoned. “I say we leave now. Take the kids and just leave. Why
can’t we?”
    “I think we should wait until the children
are in college,” Claire replied, her eyes far away and
hardening.
    “What’s the real reason, Claire?”
    Claire was silent and Analise noticed the
vein on her temple getting larger.
    “What are you trying to prove?”
    Claire fixed her with eyes that said they had
never met.
    “When is it going to be the right time?”
    “When I say,” Claire scowled.
    * * * *
    It was a stupid ass glass of wine, the world
didn't stop turning. Devon sat in the back seat of the car
wondering how hard she would have to choke her throat to make
Claire's eyes pop out. She giggled. She liked the way the wine made
her feel. Fearless and wild. She studied the arrowhead by the light
of the moon. She had stopped listening to them yak after the sexual
blackmail part, whatever that was. It was dumb blabber. She closed
her eyes. A sense of peace washed over her.